


Let It Be

by StarryEyedLove1



Series: Meetings In The Tower [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2019-06-08
Packaged: 2020-04-08 03:03:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19098451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StarryEyedLove1/pseuds/StarryEyedLove1
Summary: A distraught Anna Darcy returns back to Hogwarts from her family’s first Christmas without Cedric. Drowning in a perpetually depressed state for the last few months since her cousin's death, coupled with her worries about her upcoming Valentine’s date in a few weeks with Roger Davies, she gets a much needed proverbial kick in the ass from some of her most trusted friends. Set during the timeline of Order of the Phoenix, Anna learns a valuable lesson in friendship and love which she learns to just let it be.





	Let It Be

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: These one shots have been so fabulous to write. I wanted to give the readers a snapshot of Anna and the Weasley Twins as well as Anna and Roger who she's attempting to date at this point in her 5th year. I originally started this with a different direction in mind (which is hinted at in Anna's earlier conversation with Fred and George) but it took on a mind of it's own so I will be posting several more one shots set during this timeline as well. I really wanted to capture the fact that Roger could have been a potential somebody who loved and protected Anna as demonstrated in the novel portion of 'Meetings in the Tower' but she obviously falls in love with Draco and Roger's love for her becomes quite unrequited.

Anna hurried to keep up with her best friends as they departed from the Knight Bus and up the slippery drive towards Hogwarts’ castle. She half listened to Hermione talk about knitting a few elf hats before bed, and while Ron seemed actively engrossed in conversation with, Harry too was eerily quiet. Anna blushed as she felt her trunks being lifted by none other than Fred and George Weasley. The identical twins had a head of flaming-red hair, piercing blue eyes and abundant freckles. They had a shorter and stockier build then their brother Ron but still towered over her petite stature and frame. She nearly slipped several times on black ice but she couldn’t even really focus on that. In her head, Anna was still replaying Christmas dinner at Aunt Rosalie and Uncle Amos’ cottage. 

She’d nearly stayed at Hogwarts for the holidays, until Aunt Phoebe wrote that it would be good for family morale to see her face at Christmas dinner. Dinner itself was quiet and tense affair, Her Aunts found themselves crying every time a happy Christmas memory was mentioned by either she or Uncle Amos. Presents were doled out, of course, but it just wasn’t the same without Anna’s schemes and Cedric’s instigation of said schemes. She’d still bought Cedric a gift, _101 Ways To Outwit Your Quidditch Opponent_ , which she placed under the tree for him mainly for her own sanity. After a couple glasses of elf-made wine on the adults’ part, Anna often found herself in tight embraces from her Aunts as though they were afraid she too would slip away never to return at a moment’s notice.

Finally, at the end of the night, she took her cousin’s gift from under the tree and dared herself to slip away into the one place that reminded unchanged, Cedric’s room. His bed covers were made just the way he’d done last Christmas break, his books reminded out of order on the bookcase (something which oddly bothered his Ravenclaw cousin) and so Anna spent the rest of the night away from the sympathetic stares and coddling of her family there in his bedroom. First, she gently laid herself on top Cedric’s perfectly made bed, searching for his familiar scent on the sheets. When she only caught a faint whiff the cologne Cho had bought him last year, she sat up and unwrapped his gift. 

Careful not to crease or mess up the sheets of course, she ended up finding space near the top of his bookshelf and shoved the book there as though it were terribly hot. She turned immediately, sinking to the floor and sobbing in earnest. The fact that a tragedy hit so close to home was something that haunted Anna since the ending of that Triwizard Tournament. She’d knew this was what would happen, she all but begged Cedric not to participate, but of course he did anyway. The fact that she was a Seer who was unable to save her own kin was a terrible blow. 

Her eyes stayed fixed on the book she’d added to his collection of books she’d gotten him through the years, she laid there until the tears finally stopped in the center of that great big room which felt so empty and waited for some sort of ghostly acknowledgement that he’d seen it. It was here, that Tonks and her family found her in a fetal position staring brokenly at the bookshelf, eyes still glistening, when Tonks had arrived with the Knight Bus to pick Anna up from the cottage and bring her back to school.

“Anna?” she’d whispered cautiously. Everyone was cautious when they spoke to her and it made Anna feel so weak and vulnerable though she’d never say it, especially since they meant well. 

Aunt Rosalie couldn’t even make eye contact with occupants in the room, she’d dusted the room several times a week but she never dared linger too long. Seeing her niece robes rumpled in a heap on the center of floor was more then she could bare. She politely exited the room in a hurry and locked herself away in her own, Uncle Amos followed suit and could be heard pounding on the door begging her to come out for the next several moments but it was pointless. So he too, sank to his knees just outside the door and put his face in hands. 

As Anna was ushered out of Cedric’s room by her Aunt and Tonks, she glimpsed him quietly sobbing there and it was like a punch to the gut. Uncle Amos rarely sobbed so openly, and she was about to run to him, hug him since his son couldn’t, but Aunt Rosalie opened the door at that moment and threw herself over him. They both just collapsed into one another wrecked with gut wrenching sobs. Anna, not wanting to break up the tender moment between husband and wife, allowed her Aunt to gather up her trunks while Tonks escorted her onto the bus where her friends sat awaiting her.

Sympathetic eyes watched her as she boarded, after hugging Aunt Phoebe tightly, Tonks took up the load of her trunks and carried them behind her. She felt a hand touch her arm and she looked down at her best friend…

“Anna…I’m-”Hermione began but Anna had already held up a hand to silence her and cast her a meaningful tearful stare.

“I know,” Anna whispered and tried to smile despite the tears. “You’re sorry,” her eyes fell on Harry, Ron, Fred, George, Lupin, Ginny and finally Tonks too. “You’re all so sorry…just…please…” she pleaded before hurrying past them to grab the last window seat. She waved at Aunt Rosalie until she was just a little blip and watched the world whirl past her until she fell asleep from grief and exhaustion. 

Now as she stood here, she felt both awful and grateful for the pair in front of her and their support. She knew she’d been a terrible friend to the twins lately, she hadn’t pulled a proper prank since…the last one she played was the night before the final task. Cedric had tried to give her a gentle scolding about how she needed to be more serious but in the end only burst out laughing out loud when Anna told him he sounded like his Mother and her Aunt. In fact, he felt so bad he ended up buying some exploding snaps from her and the twins in the second floor bathroom.

The way Fred and George were looking at her nearly broke her heart and pulled her from her chaotic thoughts. Their trademark mischievous grins weren’t there, instead they looked at each other, and then back down at her with identically concerned expressions.

“You okay, Ann?” Fred asked, scratching the back of his head. Anna tried her best to smile, the twins, while quick for a joke felt oddly inept at comforting someone they considered a comrade in practical joking.

“Yeah, Fred,” Anna spoke very softly, her voice broke, so she cleared it and tried again. “I just…I missed Ceddy so much this Christmas…it was quiet and…”

“You can always talk to us Anna,” George explained tried whacking the back of his twins head. “We might not be good at knowing what do say-”

“But we always know what to do!” Fred finished with a grin that faded quickly when Anna turned from them to avoid them seeing her tear up.

George moved forward and pulled their friend into an embrace, noticing they were now alone just inside the great oak doors. Hermione, Harry and Ron were clearly too tried and distracted to notice Anna wasn’t behind them and she was oddly relieved. She couldn’t talk to her best friends, not about this, this was a Cedric conversation and he was gone. Anna swallowed a lump in her throat and tried to fight back the stinging tears behind her eyes. That’s when she remembered, in the arms of her favorite twins, that in just a few short weeks she’d be going on her first date with Roger Davies, if she wasn’t so focused on the disaster that had been her Christmas with the Diggory’s and her Aunt maybe she’d be able to mentally prepare herself or ask one of them for advice on what to wear or what to say. Anna bit her lip nervously, what did she have to say that was remotely interesting to her Quidditch mate besides the last almost year of her life has been hell without one of her favorite people? Would Davies even care?

Like a dam, Anna began to sob in earnest as the twins each wrapped an arm that wasn’t carrying a piece of her luggage around her and helped her towards the moving staircase, “Oh mates,” she blubbered between sobs trying to keep her voice to a hushed tone. “I’ve got a date with Roger Fucking Davies in a few weeks and I’m terrified…I’ve never been on a date before…I usually just say no and end up at the Three Broomsticks with Harry, Ron and Hermione…but I just-everyone’s been telling me I have to get out more since Cedric died and I said yes and now I don’t know who to talk to…because my cousin, my brilliant and perpetually collected cousin who’d know exactly what to say and exactly what to do is dead and I-”

“You’ll be fine Anna,” Fred said gently, rubbing her back.

“Yeah dates aren’t so bad, especially first ones.” George added with good measure.

“The important thing is that you know is that the worst thing that could possibly happen-” Fred chimed in.

“Is that he never wants to see you again” George finished with a mile wide grin.

“GEORGE!” Fred snapped sternly, wiping the tears from Anna tears with the pad of his thumb.

“What?” George bit back with a smirk of his own. “If he hurts our Anna, we’ll just have to get him back then…puking pastries or exploding snaps would be quite nice…”

“I think you’re quite right!” Fred told him rather impressively. “Although a little constipation is never a-”

“MATES!” Anna spoke loudly to get their attention and she managed a weak chuckle which made the twins’ faces light up like kids on Christmas morning. “it’s not that I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do for me…but if it’s all the same, I’d like to just unpack and get some sleep in the morning…”

“No, that won’t work, will it George?”

“Not a chance, Fred!” 

“Anna needs a distraction!” George announced and Anna eyed him skeptically but before she could protest Fred spoke up.

“Brilliant! I know just the thing…you thinking what I’m thinking, George?

“A good prank to settle the nerves is in order, Fred.” Answered George solemnly.

“Guys I’m not sure it’s late and I’ve just survived my first Christmas without-” Anna began but George placed a finger gingerly to her lips to stop her speech.

“Look, George and I aren’t good at advice,” Fred spoke rather cautiously. “We’re not Cedric and we’re not trying to be… but we’d like to see you smile again.”

“You’re crying all the time and you look like the undead,” George added shamelessly as he whirled Anna around to look at her reflection in the glass trophy case and she gasped in horror. She’d lost weight, her cloak looked like it was borrowed from someone Cedric’s size, and her skin was pale as parchment. Her normally shiny raven locks were dull and listless while her eyes- when Anna saw her eyes she cringed-cause they looked so lifeless with dark circles under them. She’d stopped wearing makeup since he died, she wanted the school to see what Voldemort had done to her and her family when he cruelly killed Cedric. The teachers and students were certainly concerned, but since she turned in all her assignments on time and participated when necessary in class they allowed her the curtesy of grieving in her own way.

“Your streak of not pranking people ends February 13th,” Fred told her decidedly.

“We didn’t know Cedric all that well,” George added.

“But we do know he wouldn’t want you to wallow around in self-pity.” Fred finished rather determinedly.

“Promise us,” George told her seriously, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“You’ll start eating.”

“And sleeping!”

“And you’ll start trying to find reasons to smile,” Fred included, picking up both of Anna’s trunks in his twin’s stead. “Hurting yourself isn’t going to bring him back from the dead. You need to live life FOR him now.”

“In a way that would honor his legacy!”

“And make him laugh with pride from beyond the grave.” 

“And for God sakes-”George began pulling her into a side embrace.

“Promise us you’ll start pranking again!” they finished unison.

Anna managed a watery smile and nodded, “I promise…mates…thank you. I think you’re the only blokes who aren’t afraid what I might do if they tell me to get my shit together…Lord knows I needed it, you’re right, and I’m in on this prank” She chuckled weakly and the twins grinned broadly at her thanks and compliment.

As the twins and Anna brainstormed different ideas on the way to her dorms for the first time in months, she full bellied laughed at their suggestion they prank the Inquisitorial Squad. Before she knew it, they were in front of the Ravenclaw common rooms. “Goodnight Anna!” they chorused and before they could turn to leave she lurched herself at the pair and hugged them both tightly with every ounce of strength. She gingerly leaned up, her lashes and cheeks still wet with tears and kissed them each on the cheek softly.

“Get back to your commons safe, Mates, and thanks again,” she smiled before pulling out her wand and flicking them at her trunks to follow behind her. She winked at them and then she reached up and knocked. The resulting noise echoed loudly, and the familiar voice of the eagle opened and a sing-songy voice issued from within. 

"Which came first, the Phoenix or the Flame?" Taking a deep breath, Anna smiled. "I would say the Flame, because the Phoenix is created by the Flame but the Flame is not dependent on the Phoenix," Anna said confidently.

"Nicely put," said the knocker as the door swung open.

The first thing that Anna noticed was the sheer relief she felt at being back in the Ravenclaw common room once more. With its ceilings three stories high and great arched windows going around the circumference of the circular room. She flicked her wand once more and smiled as she watched her trunks float up towards the common room ahead of her. The second thing she noticed was that Roger Davies was very much awake and very much heading towards her.

Roger was one of the boys that Jane and Padma liked to giggle over in the dorm while Anna was attempting to sleep. Anna could understand why, he was quite handsome with long dark hair, a tan muscular body from Quidditch, bright blue eyes and an easy smile. Of course, she wasn't shallow enough to dwell on things like that. He was her Quidditch team captain and also widely known as one her cousin’s closest friends outside of their perspective houses, he often watched Anna with a melancholy understanding of how Cedric’s death impacted her and this fact, combined with all of his other positive traits, had led him to become one of the only people in her house outside of Luna and Freddie that she spoke to about things. This last term, they’d stayed up till all hours just talking about life and even death. Before she left for the holidays he’d asked her to accompany him to Hogsmeade and she’d agreed. Nevertheless, when he began to speak to her, she felt a small lurch in her stomach.

"Flitwick told me you’d be getting back late…I wanted to make sure you survived the holiday."

Anna tried to formulate a response but was distracted by Roger's hair and how effortless he managed to flick it out of his eyes without so much as lifting a finger. She shook her head slightly and tried again. "It was as expected, sad and uncomfortable, although if I’d of known you were sitting up waiting for me I might have tried to arrange my return a bit earlier," she said smiling and relieved when Roger laughed. 

"Well I know how tough this last year has been on you and I’d-“he cleared his throat nervously. “I hate to see you this way...come on, let’s go chat somewhere more quiet."

The two of them walked to the other side of the common room, where Roger stopped in front of a bookcase which held a meager amount of ancient looking books.

"You didn’t go home this term?" Anna asked incredulously. "I would have thought you parents would be throwing some...grand party."

"Oh no, this year they went to Greece for their anniversary," Roger replied with another laugh. "Nobody wants to watch their parents cruising the Mediterranean all googly eyed over each-" he trailed when he considered Anna’s frown, and busied himself in browsing the shelves with his finger he found the book he was looking for, _‘Astronomy and Astrology: Using the Stars to Forecast Your Future’._

He seemed to consider his next words more carefully, "I didn’t mean to offend, Anna. I-." He began to riffle through the pages but Anna placed a hand over his and stilled it.

"Its fine, Roger, I know that nobody knows how to talk to me now but… I'm not made of glass," Anna sighed, turning to observe the common room some more. The comfy-looking furniture looked inviting, while tables were occupied by less than a half dozen students lazing around at the moment.

"I know that," Roger said, anticipating the question that was forming on her lips. "Well, come on then..."

Anna turned around and smiled at that the door that had appeared adjacent to the bookcase, she knew where Roger was taking her and it certainly wasn’t to talk.

"Ladies first," he added, holding out his arm. Anna's cheeks flushed at his chivalry as she approached the door. 

She grasped the handle and gingerly opened the door. With Roger at her side, rather smugly too, the pair hurried up the stairs. "I want you to treat me like you normally would tonight, Roger, no dancing around my feelings," she said, trying not to sound too pushy. “I just want to be normal again…and I-”

"The normal you once knew is gone." Roger surprised her with how straightforward he was, they stopped mid-stair climb and he faced her. “Things will never be as it was before Cedric died but you’ll find a new sort of normal…and I’ll be right there for you along the way as you do.”

Anna felt him brush away some more stray tears that fell without her knowledge. "I appreciate that truly, did you know I got Cedric a book for Christmas? Even though he’ll never be able to read it, I guess it felt appropriate." she said, stepping past him through the threshold and beginning her descent. A few seconds later she realized what she had just said, and how dwelling on the topic of Cedric didn’t help matters in creating a ‘normal’ evening, and blushed deeply. Roger, in the shadowy stairway, didn't seem to notice anything amiss, and if he had noticed Anna's subconscious omission, he didn't say anything.

They had only been walking for half a minute before they reached another door. Anna hesitated in front of the door, "Anna, it’s okay to talk about him and the pain you feel, it’ll help you adjust to his new normal…" Roger coaxed from behind her.

"You’re right, but I'm not getting my hopes up. Every time I think of him I cry, even without meaning too, I’ve never felt so weak…" she responded calmly, although inside she was bursting with sorrow.

“Firstly, you’re healing, not weak,” Roger explained gently. “There will come a day you can talk about Cedric and it won’t make you cry…I promise.”

Anna winked back at him as she opened the door to the secret Ravenclaw library. With shelves as towering as the ones found in the standard Hogwarts library, it had a pair of leather couches and two sets of tables, and because only a small handful of people could occupy it at a time it was a popular makeout place for the Ravenclaw couples in her house. Anna threw herself onto the nearest love seat and sighed out loud.

"That rough of a night?" Roger asked lifting her feet up so he could slide under them to sit.

"I felt like I was at a second funeral," Anna responded, running a hand through her hair. She smiled thinking of Fred and George. "Of course the second worst thing about not having Cedric home for the holidays is that I can’t talk to him about things I know he’d understand, ya know?" she said contemplatively.

Roger watched and listened with rapt interest as she opened up to him. "I always pictured you as more independent and too stubborn to ask let alone take anyone’s advice."

"I usually am, but anything involving relationships or dating is never going to be my area of expertise."

"Why not stop thinking about it and just let it be?"

Anna wanted to slap herself on the forehead. The presence of Roger was unnerving her in a way that it was like he could see right through her. "I like doing things on my own. Force of habit, I suppose." she responded, uttering a small forced laugh. "But not things like this!"

Immediately after speaking those words, Anna worried that Davies would think she was even loonier then he initially thought. "To be clear, you need not worry about Valentine's Day...I asked you out because you're one of a kind, Anna. You're not like other girls...and that's a really good thing. Sometimes, you have to let things just happen though, I suppose, let it be...cause you'll stress yourself out something fierce otherwise..." 

She bit her bottom lip gently as considered his thoughts carefully thoughtfully. “Let it be?”

"Yes, let it be! Speaking of which, you know I used to sneak Cedric in here? He used to help me with History of Magic because it was dull and hard to understand, but Cedric made it fun...so I know what it's like to miss his easy way of making tough topics more easy to digest. In fact, I'm not sure you ever noticed but he wrote footnotes in the text so that I could understand it better... when the year was over and the class was done, I left it in here for future generations to be helped. Come on, I'll show you where it is." He rose from the couch and held out his hand which Anna took and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

The two of them walked past several aisles before Roger turned into one of them. He walked down a quarter of the way, stopped, and pointed up. "It's up there. I'll grab the ladder,”

“Yeah we definitely don't want to summon these books if we can help it," Anna said conversationally.

As Roger disappeared down another aisle to retrieve the ladder, Anna perused some of the titles of the books that were at eye level. The section they were in were made up of mostly Muggle books with additions made by various wizards and witches, on topics that would never ever come up in the course of normal study at Hogwarts. She leaned against one of the cases, closed her eyes and breathed in the scent of old literature.

Roger soon returned with the ladder, carrying it effortlessly under one arm.

"Why not just let it be?" Anna asked cheekily, although she knew full well that Roger was showing her this book that had once been in possession of her cousin for a reason she didn’t know if she can handle seeing something even as basic as Cedric’s handwriting right now.

"Ha ha, you're a funny one," Roger replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes with a grin. He leaned the bulky wooden ladder against the shelf and motioned for Anna to climb up. As she did so, Anna was extremely glad that she had decided to change out her holiday dress and into some form fitting jeans for Christmas at her Aunt and Uncle's house. Still, she could see out of the corner of her eye that Roger was eyeing her rear a bit more than was appropriate it made her feel odd.

"Enjoying the view?" she asked, amazed at her own forwardness. This was the first time she could recall putting intentional effort into flirting.

She was pleased to see that she had managed to embarrass Roger, who pushed his hair from his eyes and turned red without saying anything. After a few more seconds of searching, she found the book Roger pointed out for her and began to descend the ladder. She had only gone down a few steps when her foot missed the rung it was aiming for. Since she had a death-grip on the ladder with her free hand, she thought everything was going to be fine, until the book slipped out from under her arm in the commotion. Stupidly, she grabbed for it with her free hand while trying to grab the ladder with the newly-freed hand, which caused her to lose her footing completely and begin falling.

One second and five vertical feet later, Anna lay on the ground in an ungraceful heap. She could hear Roger chuckling from somewhere. "I caught the book, at least," he said.

Anna picked herself up gingerly and then walked over to where Roger was laughing at his joke. She stood directly in front of him, and looking him in the eye, said, "You're a git." It wasn't the catty remark she had been hoping to come up with, but it got the point across.

"You'll think I'm even more of a git after I do this," he said, and kissed her full on the lips.

Before she could fully comprehend what was happening, it was over. Roger was smiling, but it was a slightly timid smile, like he was waiting for her to explode at him. If it had been any other time, that's probably what she would have done. But after the night she had, being here with Roger made her feel like an ordinary witch, not a fragile little girl who everyone tip-toed around because she lost a family member. So without hesitation she kissed him back.

This one was much more satisfactory. After a few seconds, Roger dropped the now-forgotten book on the ground and pulled her closer to him.

Thirty seconds later, Anna broke off the kiss. She knew she was dazed and out of it but she couldn't help it. "I definitely did not foresee this happening."

"I kinda did," Roger confessed. He nudged the book with his toe. "Hey look," he said sheepishly pointing to the book which fell to an open page with her cousin’s familiar scrawl in the right margin…  
_‘Thurgood’s passage suggests that the early settlers in Muggle history books, kept hope and faith for a brighter tomorrow. While there were moments of profound sorrow they refused to give up and give in. This serves to remind us that sometimes one mustn’t think but simply ‘let it be’ and take a chance in living the best life for themselves and their families as they possible could.’_

"What are the odds of that page being open up to?" Anna actually laughed and Roger laughed along with her. "If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you planned this all along."

"If I did, would you still snog me like you did before?"

“I’m not sure” she replied mock thoughtfully, rubbing her chin in a teasing away.

“Anna,” he growled, the hunger to have her back in his arms was evident in his eyes, and when Anna licked her lips nervously under his intense gaze he smiled rather cockily at her.

"Oh I suppose I could just let it be, _just this once_..."  
***


End file.
